Jeevan (Hindi actor)

Omkar Nath Dhar, better known by his stage name Jeevan, was an Indian actor. He played the role of Narad Muni in films of the 1950s, a total of 49 times. Later, he played the villain in popular Bollywood films of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. His son Kiran Kumar is also a film and television actor.

Early life

Jeevan was born into an aristocratic Hindu Kashmiri Pandit family. His father, a nobleman, served as the governor of the Gilgit Agency as its Wazir-e-Wazarat under the suzerainty of princely state of Kashmir. His mother died during childbirth and he lost his father when he was just three years old.

Career

From an early age, Jeevan wanted to be an actor as films had always fascinated him. Since his grandfather was the governor, their family was considered among the nobility. As a son of such a family, joining films would not have been accepted as films were considered taboo, so Jeevan ran away from home at the age of 18 and came to Bombay with only Rs. 26 in his pocket.
After a brief period of struggle, he eventually landed himself a job in the studios of Mohan Sinha. His job was to stick silver paper on the reflectors. It was here while working as a reflector boy that he landed a lead role in the movie Fashionable India, which was being made by Mohan Sinha.
It is said that he has played Narad Muni in more than 60 films and theater shows of different languages.
His most famous film as Narad Muni was the 1950 hit film “Har Har Mahadev” with Trilok Kapoor and Nirupa Roy. He became notable otherwise for his roles in Romantic India in 1935, Afasana in 1946 and Station Master in 1942. Jeevan appeared in several Dev Anand films from 1946 to 1978 and in Manmohan Desai movies such as Amar Akbar Anthony and Dharam Veer as villains. He also starred in the Punjabi film Teri Meri Ek Jindri. His last movie was Insaaf Ki Manzil, released in 1986, produced by Ram Nandan Prasad and Directed by Braj Bhushan. He died on 10 June 1987 at the age of 71.